The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Kosovo, Jonathan Hargreaves, and the Ambassador of Germany to Kosovo, Rainer Rudolph, in an exclusive interview for KosovaPress spoke about the elections held in Kosovo last Sunday and the expectations afterward.
Hargreaves said it must be acknowledged that Kosovo has already gained significant experience in organizing elections, adding that he was pleased that the CEC software system functioned “perfectly.”
“Let’s admit it, Kosovo has already gained a lot of experience in organizing elections. There has been enough time to practice and, from what I saw, that experience is delivering results, while some procedures are continuously improving. I was also very pleased when we sat down to watch the results on television and saw that the software system of the Central Election Commission worked perfectly. I am very satisfied with the cooperation the United Kingdom has had with the CEC in this regard, because since February a lot of hard work has been done and I think this has significantly increased confidence in the electoral process,” Hargreaves told KosovaPress.
Meanwhile, German Ambassador Rudolph said he visited several polling stations in Gracanica and its surroundings, where everything was calm and very professional. He added that he hopes elections in Kosovo will be held once every four years, just like the World Cup.
“I had very similar impressions. As you said, I visited several polling stations in Gracanica and around it. Everything was calm and very professional. As Jonathan said, there was a lot of routine and it is good to see this process working. An election campaign can be exciting, but election day should simply be routine and calm, not exciting. But since you called it the ‘Kosovo Cup,’ my personal hope is that this cup, like the World Cup, will be held only once every four years. I have no guarantee of that, but we will see,” Rudolph told KosovaPress.
Regarding expectations after the elections, Rudolph said that to have stable institutions, it is not enough only to form a government, but also to elect a president, and he expressed hope for broad cooperation among the political class.
Meanwhile, the British ambassador said Kosovo needs to move forward, to have a functioning parliament, government, and presidency in order to address global challenges and internal issues that Kosovo’s citizens deserve to see addressed. He added that this responsibility lies with politicians.
